I have a Seagate Freeagent GoFlex External hard drive 3Tb. When plugged in and turned on it starts spinning and then suddenly

[Mibsam]

I have a Seagate Freeagent GoFlex External hard drive 3Tb. When plugged in and turned on it starts spinning and then suddenly stops. How can I fix this problem? This is for one of my customers and I don't want to look bad. Please help!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Does the drive still work? Does it start spinning again when you read or write to it? It's probably got a "green" power saving drive inside that powers down when it's not being accessed.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Mibsam,

I assume that the HDD is not recognized by your system.
You can start with changing the AC power adapter(in case the drive comes with one) as well as the USB cable. You could try it on another system as well. Similar issues could be power related.
In case the issue persists though, it may be a good idea to contact the HDD's manufacturer as it is possible that there is something wrong with the enclosure of the HDD.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do the lights go off, or does it just stop audibly rotating?

 

[Mibsam]

@darkbreeze and D_Know_WD. Theres no lights coming off or on. I also opened the enclosure and plugged in the hard drive to see the part that reads the platter behavior and what it does is that goes forward and backwards like 5 to 6 times and then completely stops. Computer wont recognize it either. BTW, i already bought a new PCB for this hard drive and a new adapter and cable and same thing happens.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Then I guess I'd RMA the drive.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Have you opened the drive itself up?
If this is the case, I would say that it might be some head related issue. I would say that it may be beyond repair. 🙁
Furthermore, you have opened the drive and exposed the platters to dust contaminated environment. In this case, I would say that the data may be unrecoverable as well.
In case the data is really important, you can contact the HDD manufacturer. Most of the HDD manufacturers provide data recovery services or have some data recovery partners.

D_Know_WD